Yesterday was Data Privacy Day. Don’t bother looking for Hallmark cards, it’s not that kind of day. Canada, the United States and 27 European countries, mark this occasion as a means of raising awareness and generating discussion about data privacy practices and rights.

    Most people aren’t aware such a day exists. This probably speaks to the fact that too few people realize they are leaving an trail of data behind them for others to collect, merge, analyze, massage and sell, often without their knowledge or consent. Furthermore, on any given day, millions of people will send sensitive personal information over the Internet; thousands will likely be affected by a data breach, and hundreds will probably fall victim to identity theft.

    To commemorate Data Privacy Day, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada offered up these 10 ways your privacy is threatened:

    10. Surveillance cameras, swipe cards, Internet searches - as you go about your daily routine you actually leave a trail of data behind you for others to collect, merge, analyze and even sell, often without your knowledge or consent.

    9. New and exciting technologies are emerging daily; but often your personal information is the cost of admission. Think about the information you have surrendered just to play online games, join virtual worlds, or even shop online.

    8. Millions of people post all sorts of personal information about themselves, their family and their friends on social networking sites without reviewing the privacy policies, modifying the privacy settings, or considering how this information can be used or misused by others.

    7. Governments are indiscriminately collecting mountains of personal data in the name of national security and public safety.

    6. Businesses are collecting more and more information about an ever-greater number of people, often without having appropriate means to protect the information or dispose of it.

    5. Data breaches happen every day in both the public and private sectors. Recent incidents have exposed the personal information of millions of people. In fact, you could already have been one of those people, but due to the lack of mandatory breach reporting laws in Canada, you may never even be informed.

    4. Fraudsters have become extremely devious and technologically savvy. From the other side of the planet, they can steal your personal information. These days, you need to shred documents, protect your computer, watch out for fraudulent e-mails, be on guard against pretexting and much more.

    3. Identity theft, which is fuelled by excessive personal information collection and failure to protect it, is rampant - and it is becoming a very lucrative business for criminals.

    2. We live in a global society where information flows freely around the world - from person to person; jurisdiction to jurisdiction; public sector to private sector - and all privacy protection laws are not created equal.

    1. The notion that “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear”. Privacy is an essential freedom that shapes our society; an internationally recognized human right; and the foundation of modern democracy - but if we don’t value our privacy or stand up for it as our right, it will be eroded over time.

    昨天是全球“個人隱私保護日”！但你可千萬不要到郵箱去找祝賀賀卡哦，因為個人隱私保護日不是這種類型的節日~ 在加拿大，美國和其他27個歐洲國家，這個節日旨在提高人們對個人隱私的保護意識，以及引起整個社會對“個人空間保護權利”的關注。

    但是，大多數的人還不是很了解這個節日存在的意義。這也就從另一個方面證實了，很多人還沒有意識到自己會在日常生活中留下自己的數據隱私，供窺探者去收集、匯總、分析、整理甚至出售。而更加夸張的現實是，無論在哪一天，都會有數以百萬計的人們在網絡上留下相當敏感的個人信息；數以千計的人們可能受到不正規數據的影響；甚至數以百計的人們會在上網的過程中，承認自己的盜竊犯罪事實。

    在“個人隱私保護日”這一天，加拿大的個人隱私保護委員會列舉出了十種最容易泄露個人隱私的途徑，用以警示。

    Top 10. 行走時的街頭監控攝像頭，購物結賬時使用的銀行卡，上網時使用的搜索引擎 —— 當你習慣性的去做這些每日必做的日常動作時，事實上，你下意識的留下了一系列的個人信息，可以供窺探者去收集、整理、分析甚至出售。

    Top 9. 每一天，我們的身邊都會出現許多新興的技術，但往往其使用條件就是要求你提供相應的個人隱私，例如那些你為了玩兒在線網絡游戲，為了參加網上的虛擬世界，為了在線購物時提供的信息。

    Top 8.在社會性網絡社區中，數以百萬計的人們在不閱讀個人隱私保護政策，不加大個人隱私保護權限的情況下，就不加思考的上傳了大量的個人信息、家庭信息，甚至朋友信息，完全沒有考慮到這些信息可能被他人利用，甚至濫用的可能性。

    Top 7. 相關的政府部門也打著為了保護國家安全和社會保障的名義，不加篩選的在網絡上收集大量的個人信息。

    Top 6. 一些商務公司為了其發展在網絡上收集大量的個人信息，但其卻并沒有處理、甚至保護這些數據的能力。

    Top 5. 每天都有公眾數據和個人隱私數據被竊取。近日，一場加拿大的數據泄露事故導致數以百萬計的個人信息被曝光，而事實上，這其中很有可能就包含你的個人信息，但是，由于加拿大相關法律體制的不健全，即使你的信息由于政府的過失被泄露，你也許也永遠不會得知。

    Top 4. 網絡詐騙行為趨于復雜和高科技化。即使黑客在地球的另一端，他也能夠竊取到你的信息，對此，你應當盡可能的簡化自己的隱私文件，升高電腦的安全級別，對詐騙郵件小心處理，隨時提防網絡騙子等。

    Top 3. 身份被盜竊。由于人們往往不注意保護好自己的隱私，導致網上充斥著大量的個人信息，這使得盜竊身份這一犯罪行為越來越猖獗，而這甚至成為了罪犯們可以賺錢的買賣。

    Top 2. 我們居住的地方不僅是一個全球性的社會，更是一個信息可以隨意傳播的社會，從個人到個人，權限到權限，甚至公共部門到私營部門，然而，在各個社會層面上的隱私保護條款卻不是平等的。

    TOP 1. 有這樣一種說法”當你沒有任何隱私需要隱藏時，你就無所畏懼了。”享有隱私這一特權，是構成和諧社會的重要組成部分。隱私，是一種國際上被認可的個人權利，是現代民主的祭奠。所以，我們必須要認清隱私的價值，站出來保護自己的個人隱私，否則，總有一天，它將被時間吞噬。